Joe Conway (Independent)

Back in the days of the autumn past, I spoke on the Order of Business about a serious matter that arose in north Cork relating to fish kill. I see the matter is back in the headlines again this week. It is troubling for the people from that area. It is troubling for all of the people who enjoy the amenities of the rivers Blackwater and Allow. If you were to look at what has happened, there is a high concentration of ammonia going into the water. Ten days ago, one of the farm businesses concerned - back in the day, they used to be called co-ops but I think it is called North Cork Creameries Limited or plc or something like that - was warned by the EPA that its effluent concentration levels were well above the permitted levels. Despite that, when it was tested again in the past few days, it was found it was 50 times above the permitted level, despite the number of warnings it had received.

The problem has been checked out, examined, tested and retested by Cork County Council, Uisce Éireann and the EPA. I am wondering if there would be a case for the Leader's office, and perhaps the Cathaoirleach's office, to ask the Oireachtas environment committee to bring representatives from those three bodies to a meeting of the committee so that the elected parliamentarians can tease out the issue. There are obviously serious matters of fault in this. The proper forum would be the committee where we can get the investigators in to clear the air and people in these Houses could establish what exactly is going wrong and what exactly is proposed to remediate the situation.